John Hagner's Hollywood Stuntmen's Hall of Fame Collection

Santa Monica 2013
July 26-27

About The Collection

John Hagner’s stunt career started professionally in 1960 in Southern California where he was an instructor at the area’s first trampoline center. It was at the trampoline center where Hagner received an urgent phone call from 20th Century-Fox Studios. They desperately needed a stuntman who could do a high fall and Hagner answered the call. He duly arrived at the set and performed the stunt for Gardner McKay, the star of the television series “Adventures In Paradise.” Hagner ended up doubling Gardner McKay for the last year-and-a-half of that series.
From there Hagner worked several other shows at 20th Century-Fox, including the feature film “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,” doubling for its star, Walter Pidgeon. He also worked for the television series based on the feature film, doubling for David Hedison. He also found work on the “Batman” series performing stunts in several episodes (playing one of the henchman for the Cesar Romero’s ‘The Joker’ and George Sanders’ ‘Mr. Freeze’). Hagner’s flawless stunts and hard work ethic got him noticed by all of the major Hollywood studios for the next few decades. At 82 years old, he is still performing stunts. While Hagner was jumping out of buildings, pulling punches and performing pratfalls, he was also gathering movie and Western memorabilia for a future museum. “I noticed at the start of my collecting days that there was no legacy for stuntmen,” Hagner said. “The first book ever written on stuntmen was in 1964 (“Falling For The Stars”) and it was only because I took it upon myself to write it! It was vital that someone not only document the history, but collect it as well.”
Hagner founded the Hollywood Stuntmen’s Hall of Fame in 1973, which was located in several different places in California including Palmdale, Mojave, Banning and Cabazon. In 1989, Hagner received an opportunity to relocate the museum to Moab, Utah, where it was open to the public for nearly eight years. Over the course of several decades, Hagner amassed more than 1,100 pieces in his collection. It includes donated items from luminaries such as John Wayne, Gene Kelly, Jimmy Stewart, James Arness, Clayton Moore, Harrison Ford, Burt Reynolds, Phyllis Diller, Jack Nicholson, Dennis Weaver, Lash LaRue and Hal Needham as well as memorabilia from more than 100 high-profile career stuntmen.
Now in his early eighties, John is the oldest working stuntman in the world. He has a sharp wit and a wonderful sense of humor. It is John’s dream to reopen the Hollywood Stuntmen’s Hall of Fame and that dream is why some of his amazing collection is being offered today. In addition to his stunt work, John is also an accomplished artist, author and musician. He resides in Moab, Utah.

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Collections

Information found on the website is presented as advance information for the auction lot. Photos, materials for videos, descriptions and other information are provided by the consignor/seller and is deemed reliable, but Mecum Auction does not verify, warrant or guarantee this information. The lot and information presented at auction on the auction block supersedes any previous descriptions or information. Mecum is not responsible for information that may be changed or updated prior to the auction. The decision to purchase should be based solely on the buyers personal inspection of the lot at the auction site prior to the auction.